The Hollow Halloween
by AmandaArtiste
Summary: It's Halloween in Dimmsdale but something isn't right. There's nothing real and nothing scary spooking up the night. Why? Because Gary and Betty have launched a campaign to ban the fright and replace it with safe, educational fun. What's a kid to do?
1. It Was a Dark and Stormy Night

**Disclaimer: **I do not own The Fairly OddParents or any of the canon characters. All I own are this story and any OCs not seen in the series (ex: Jack Oleander, Hocus, Pocus, Des, etc.)

_**The Hollow Halloween**_

Chapter One: It Was a Dark and Stormy Night

It was a dark and stormy night in the city of Dimmsdale. Loud bursts of thunder rumbled above while streaks of lightning split the sky. A harsh wind blew the bare gnarled branches of trees nearly stripping them clean of their autumn foliage.

One such branch rapped against the pane of twelve-year-old Timmy Turner's bedroom window. The eerie mood created by the weather was perfect for what took place inside.

"How about THIS ONE!" he asked and sprung into view looking more dead than alive in his zombie costume with the decaying skin and sunk in yellow eyes.

The swirly pink haired creature floating above his bed propped her chin in her hand and frowned, "Mmm...I dunno hon. It seems a little dead to me."

"Okay then," Timmy turned to his green haired fairy who immediately poofed him into a caped vampire, "what about this one?"

"It's totally terrifying, plus it comes with optional shape shifting mode!" Cosmo announced as Timmy swirled the black cape around himself which promptly transformed him into a bucktoothed bat. "Cool huh?"

"Almost as cool as when you turned him into a rabbit last Easter and Francis pulverized him for putting rotten eggs in his basket." Wanda reminded Cosmo.

Timmy gulped upon recalling the painful incident of mistaken identity. "Ya know, she does have a point. Let's try something else."

"Well alright then," Cosmo shrugged and poofed him back to normal, "but you could've covered more ground with those wings."

The next twenty minutes was spent by Timmy posing in cliché costumes and Wanda muttering a negative critique for each one.

"How 'bout a werewolf?"

"Too hairy."

"Mummy?"

"That is so two years ago."

"Skeleton?"

"Nah, too boney."

"Alien!"

"Nuh-uh."

"Wizard!"

"Pass."

"ARACHNOKID!"

"It's been done."

"That's it!" Turner had finally had enough, "Cosmo, I wish you'd poof me into the scariest costume you can think of. Something that'll even terrify Wanda!"

Cosmo instantly winced and began fiddling with his wand, "Eh, I dunno Timmy. There's only one thing I can think of that never fails to terrify Wanda and that's-"

"-exactly what I want, now make it so!"

Timmy stood with his hands on his hips awaiting the magic while Cosmo covered his eyes and pointed the wand in his direction. This wasn't going to be pretty.

_POOF!_

_ULTRA SCARY!_

"GAH!" Wanda gasped, "It's too terrifying! I can't look!"

"Heh, that's more like it." Pleased with his fairy godmother's reaction Timmy strode confidently over to his mirror and...

"AAAHHH! Cosmo what the heck did you do to me! I look just like your mother!"

"Well, you wanted the scariest costume I could think of to totally terrify Wanda." his fairy godfather shrugged.

"Mama Cosma always does the trick. Now change him back before I wind up with nightmares!" Wanda quivered, still shielding her eyes from the horror of her overbearing, disapproving mother-in-law.

_POOF!_

"Aw forget it guys," Timmy sighed, "I guess I'll just have to buy my own costume this year."

"What's the scariest, must-have costume this Halloween Timmy?" asked Cosmo.

Timmy raked the side of his shoe across the carpet and sulked, "Probably some overpriced, ultra rare getup I could never afford."

"Cheer up sweetie," a light bulb suddenly appeared over Wanda's head, "Hey, maybe you could MAKE your own costume?"

Cosmo snatched the bulb and held it over his head, it flickered dimly. "Or you could ask the spirit of Halloween to lend you one of his!"

"Cosmo no!" Wanda objected.

Too late, Timmy's interest had already been peaked. "Awesome! There's a spirit of Halloween?"

"Ahahaha, of course there is!" Cosmo waved him off, "You didn't think Halloweenie Dog was the genuine article did ya?"

"But Timmy," Wanda interjected, "it's said that he's very reclusive and only comes out of his spooky realm one time a year, for Halloween. He probably doesn't like to be disturbed."

"Ah he can rest in peace AFTER he helps me find a cool costume." Timmy shrugged, "C'mon Wanda, it's only once a year."

"Well..." Wanda bit her bottom lip, a clear sign that she was relenting, "I guess it couldn't hurt to ask?"

"Great!" Timmy shouted, "Let's go! I wish we were in the realm of the spirit of Halloween!"

"Yay!" Cosmo cheered as he raised his wand, "One wacky, holiday themed, misadventure coming right up!"

And _POOF_ they were gone.

* * *

Seconds later they appeared in a small cemetery at the base of a winding hill, atop it stood a spooky old castle shrouded in shadow and surrounded by thick ominous fog. Occasionally a sudden flash of lightning would illuminate the fearful structure and reveal menacing stone gargoyles staring them down from the turrets. Above them bats hung upside down from the scraggly branches of a crooked dead tree while crows cawed at them from the shadows cast upon nearby tombstones.

"Wow, this looks like the right place."

"Just be careful Timmy." Wanda cautioned.

Cosmo was nervously wringing his wand again, "Yeah, all the classic horror movies start out this way."

The three poofed up to the front door where Cosmo nudged Timmy to use to the knocker in the form an ebony skull's lower jaw bone. They shivered as the echoes of the knock sent shivers running down their spines. Seconds later the door creaked open of its own accord and they hesitantly stepped inside. The entire castle was dark and gave off an unnerving chill which seemed to warn of unspoken terrors lurking within.

Timmy finally mustered up the courage to speak, "H-Hello, we're l-looking for the sp-spirit of Halloween."

"Anybody home?" Cosmo called.

"Well the place looks deserted, we'd better go." Wanda spun round on her heal and headed for the exit, trying hard to hide her growing nervousness.

The door slammed shut sending a gust of deathly cold air whisking around them. Flames sprung up from the wicks of the dust covered candles and illuminated the large room. Cobwebs hung from the rafters, sides of furniture, and light fixtures. A thick coat of dust covered everything and the strong smell of mildew filled the air. Bats swooped down from their perches on the chandelier overhead and caused the trio to dunk and scream in fright.

"WANDA! I WANNA GO HOME!" Cosmo cried as he and his wife clung to each other.

Timmy's blue eyes widened when a shadow fell over his trembling godparents, "Uh...guys?"

They looked up to see a tall, headless figure standing behind their godchild holding a glowing jack-o-lantern in his right hand. "AAAHH! IT'S THE SPIRIT OF HALLOWEEN!" And with that—they fainted.

Timmy turned, saw the creature, and dropped to his knees, "Gulp, please don't eat me Mr. Spirit of Halloween! I-I was just trying to come up with a cool costume!"

* * *

Meanwhile, back at the Turners' residence...

Vicky sat at the kitchen table munching on chocolate chip cookies and studying for her upcoming midterms. Headlights shown through the window as the Turners' pulled into the driveway.

"Ugh finally," she sighed snapping the book shut, "the twerp's parents are here."

She plastered on her 'adoring babysitter' face before answering the door, "Oh Mr. and Mrs. Turner, I thought you'd never get back—I mean—did you have a good time at the Crafts Festival?"

"You bet we did!" Mr. Turner exclaimed, "While we were there I even got to whittle myself a new pair of underpants!" He cringed in pain, "YAH! SPLINTER!"

"Thank you so much for babysitting Timmy again on such short notice," Mrs. Turner stated and whipped out her purse, "We know you're busy studying for college."

"No problem Mrs. Turner, any time. I just love spending quality time with Timmy!" Vicky responded in her sugary sweet tone. _His misery is music to my ears._

"Speaking of Timmy," Mr. Turner glanced around, "where is he?"

"Oh I sent the little darling up to his room to finish his homework. Tomorrow is Halloween you know? I want him to have the rest of the weekend free for harmless pranks and sorting his candy." Vicky lied.

"How thoughtful," Mrs. Turner bought it, "here's a little extra for showing such consideration. Will you still be available to take Timmy and his friends trick-or-treating tomorrow night?"

Vicky was busy counting her cash, "Huh? Oh of course Mrs. Turner, I wouldn't miss it for the world. In fact, I'm gonna go get ready for it right now."

As usual when the ill tempered redhead grabbed her stuff and bolted out the door laughing evilly the Turners' mistook it all for enthusiasm. Adults can be such nitwits.

* * *

"Huh? What?" the green haired fairy slowly opened his eyes to find himself lying on a musty antique sofa.

"Oohhh...what happened?" his wife regained consciousness on the other end of the sofa, "Where are we?"

An anonymous voice replied, "You are in the haunted castle of the most frightening guy in magic biz! Heh, I put the boo in...uh...well...boo."

The fairies sat up and stared across the study where a tall, skinny figure stood in front of the roaring fireplace with his arms crossed and dark shadows playing on his wide orange face. Naturally, they screamed.

"Hey, hey whoa cool it you two." the stranger gestured for them to calm down, "What? Does the head scare ya? Here look, I can take it off."

He removed his head and the fairies screamed again, Cosmo even blanched white.

"Knock it off guys, there's nothing to be scared of." a smaller figure walked into view. Timmy lowered his black and red sucker and began to explain, "This is the spirit of Halloween. He helped me get you off the floor and in here so you'd warm up. Heh, talk about bein' chicken, you guys both fainted!"

"I seem to recall a certain somebody dropping down to his knees and beggin' for his life." the spirit of Halloween chuckled, "By the way, the name's Jack, Jack Oleander."

He offered his hand which Wanda elbowed Cosmo into shaking before she inquired, "Oleander? But I thought your name was Jack O'Lantern?"

"Common misunderstanding," Jack sighed, "must be this head. You should've heard the tales the last guy I introduced myself to started spinning. Had the whole town calling me 'Headless Horseman' or some other such nonsense. And do you think I got one penny in royalties from the book sells? Ha, not a chance!"

There was a small popping sound as the hand Cosmo was shaking came detached. "AAAHHH!"

"Oh sorry about that," Jack apologized, "that hand yeah, sometimes has a mind of its own. Don't worry about it though," he took it in his other hand and started twisting it back on, "it's completely reattachable. Now uh, Timmy was it? I think you said something about needing help with finding a 'really cool costume' right?"

"Yeah," Timmy exclaimed, "I need something unique and scary. Something that no other kid would think of!"

Jack laughed and pointed over to Wanda, "Did ya try her mother-in-law?" He slung an arm around Cosmo and patted his shoulder, "I'm just kiddin' pal, I'm sure she's a lovely lady. But seriously kid, I've got plenty of costumes lyin' around in here. Take your pick. But whatever you do...stay clear of the coffin in my basement."

"There's a c-coffin in your basement?" Wanda stammered.

"Huh!" Jack spun around looking alarmed, "Who said anything about there being a coffin in my basement?"

"Uh...you did. Just now." Timmy reminded him. _This guy's a little batty._

"Oh, well don't go near it okay?" Jack walked over to the high, narrow windows along the far wall.

"Where are you going?" Cosmo asked.

"Me? It's what, the night before Halloween? I've got errands to run, plans to make, places to go, people to spook. I'll be back late so eh, don't wait up for me. You can let yourselves out alright?"

"Uh...sure." Wanda nodded and held up her wand.

"Good." Jack spread his arms out wide and disappeared in a flurry of black and crimson fog.

"_Creepy_." Cosmo shivered.

"Okay guys," Timmy sprang onto the back of the sofa wearing a mischievous grin, "let's get terrifying!"

* * *

To be continued... 


	2. Well It Ain’t Dracula

_**The Hollow Halloween**_

Chapter Two: Well It Ain't Dracula

Inside Jack's spooky castle Timmy and his godparents spent the better part of an hour exploring the many rooms and corridors. It was almost like trying to find their way through a maze inside one of those rigged up haunted houses where ghosts and goblins awaited unsuspecting visitors in the shadows.

Wanda had grown nervous again, "Timmy don't you think you should hurry and pick something before your parents notice you're missing?"

"Aw but none of the costumes we've found were scary enough Wanda." Timmy complained, "It's all the run of the mill junk you see every Halloween. I want something original!"

"Well I gave you original and you chewed my head off." Cosmo folded his arms and floated along behind them. With his eyes closed he failed to notice the spider web up ahead.

Timmy and Wanda went around it but Cosmo flew straight through it.

"Aaahh! EW! Sticky!" Cosmo panicked trying to yank the gooey webbing off his face, "WANDA!"

"Oh hold still sweetie," Wanda flew over and poofed the webbing away. "That better?"

"Phew," the green haired fairy sighed in relief and gave his wife a quick 'thank you' peck on the cheek.

"And if you're done being all mushy and gross maybe we can get a move on?" Timmy tapped his foot impatiently before turning to leave.

"HEY HOLD IT RIGHT THERE YA HOMEWRECKERS!"

The three paused and glanced around searching for the owner of the mystery voice. A fist sized black spider lowered itself down from a lance being held up by one of the coats of armor on display. It narrowed its blood red eyes at Cosmo and sneered.

"Just who do you think you are trespassing in the hallways and tearing down all my decorations? Do you know how long it took me to spin that web buster? Huh!"

"Whoa, a talking spider!" Timmy exclaimed.

"That's Speter Spider to you, ya hooligan!" the peeved arachnid angrily shook three tiny fists.

"Spete!" came a feminine voice, "That's no way to treat our guests!"

The trio turned to find a transparent apparition rising up out of the floor. Parts of her ghostly form were fading in and out of sight. She was tinted light blue with a deep blue maid's outfit and white tattered apron. In her hands she held a bottle of 'SlimeX' and an old dust rag.

"GH-GHOST!" Wanda screeched.

"A pretty ghost," Cosmo grinned, but clammed up when Wanda snatched him by the ear.

"Who are you?" Timmy questioned. The ghost didn't appear all that threatening, in fact she was shooting a reprimanding glare at the unfriendly spider.

"I'm Phana Phantasmal, the housekeeper." she smiled and gave a slight curtsey. "You must be the visitors Jack mentioned. The ones looking for a costume?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"The kid asks a lot of questions." Spete grumbled.

Phana giggled softly, "The walls have ears, namely mine. Being a ghost I can fade in and out of view. And I overheard the four of you talking in the study a while ago while I was sliming the tapestries."

"She must not be much of a housekeeper," Wanda remarked, gesturing about. "This place is a filthy, disgusting mess!"

Phana blushed, "Why thank you. It's not much but I do what I can."

Wanda blinked, "Right."

"Hey do you know where Jack keeps all his really cool costumes?" Timmy questioned hopefully.

"Why sure," Phana beamed, "they're stored down in the base-"

Spete quickly swung himself onto her shoulder and clamped two of his eight appendages over her mouth. "Zip it Phana, you know Jack doesn't like anyone goin' down there."

Annoyed the phantom flicked her pesky coworker away and continued, "I'm sure they won't get into any trouble Spete. Jack warned them about the c-o-f-f-i-n. You take the next left past the bust of Swamp Teen and go down the luminary lined staircase until you come to the big wooden door with a barred window. It's the only entrance that doesn't involve a trap door or secret passageway."

Spete dropped down in front of Timmy, "And don't you dare touch that coffin ya pesky runt!"

"I'll be in the kitchen just down the hall from those stairs brewing up some more fog if you need me." Phana waved as the three guests headed off in the direction of the basement, "And Spete, I believe you have a web to rebuild."

With a growl the spider set to work, muttering under his breath about nosy kids and meddling fairies.

* * *

Jack Oleander's basement made the rest of his castle look bright and spotless. It looked as though no living thing had been down there in the past five hundred years. The true colors of objects there were hidden by an inch thick layer of dust. Cobwebs dangled from the ceiling while some of the older ones that had grown heavy with dust lined the floor. Shadows filled every corner, taking fearful shapes and provoking the darker side of one's imagination.

A beam of light cut through the blackness and dimly illuminated the neglected belongings of the spirit. Footsteps echoed in the otherwise silent cellar as Timmy and his godparents descended the stairs behind the large wooden door and began exploring.

"ACHOO!" Cosmo's sneeze sent dust particles flying everywhere, nearly blinding them in a cloud of bright grey.

"Bless you," Wanda sighed, "this place is gonna have everyone's allergies going haywire if we don't hurry up."

"Well now that Cosmo's taken care of the dust maybe we can get a good look at the costumes." Timmy replied optimistically. "Let's split up, Wanda you go check over there by those shelves, Cosmo you search the trunks stacked up next to the stairs, and I'll see what's in those piles of clothes by the back wall."

Cosmo and Wanda saluted before flying off to their posts. Timmy walked over to the piles of clothes (some costumes, some moth ridden second hand garments) and started digging for something unique and scary.

About twenty minutes later all three had found a large number of creepy costumes but none that really sparked Timmy's interest. So much for beggars can't be choosers.

"Timmy," Wanda sighed in frustration as she tossed away the last of the costume picks, "if you can't find something out of all these costumes then you're not gonna have anything to wear tomorrow when Vicky takes you and your friends trick-or-treating."

"I know Wanda," Timmy moaned before a funny thought struck him. "Hey wouldn't it be awesome if I could find a costume so scary that even Icky Vicky was terrified?"

"Keep dreaming Sport," Wanda smiled, "now let's get Cosmo and head back home."

"Where is Cosmo?"

They found Timmy's godfather trying to pry something open over by the trunks.

"Cosmo what are you doing?" Wanda questioned, "You're gonna throw your back out!"

"I...urr...I grr..can't get this...gah...stupid trunk...guuurrr...open!" he grunted, still tugging at the lid of the oddly shaped box.

"Cosmo are you sure that's a trunk?" Wanda asked skeptically.

"Aha, of course I'm sure. Why else would it be over here with the rest of the trunks?" With a look of determination he poofed himself up a crowbar and--after a bit more struggling--managed to pry it open. "Got it!"

Timmy and his godparents hesitantly leaned forward to peek inside.

"I don't see anything." said Timmy. "Why would the spirit of Halloween lock up an empty trunk?"

"Uh Timmy, I don't think this is a trunk." Wanda frowned. "Look at the way it's shaped."

"YUCK!" Cosmo blurted out, feverishly wiping his hands on his pants, "I touched a coffin!"

Timmy's pupils shrank, "Coffin!"

Instantly they were all blown back by the force of a tremendous blast of red light and black flames that sprang up from what was once a seemingly empty coffin. The flames formed the darkened image of a face which rose up to take full form. Timmy screamed in fright when he finally recognized the creature.

"NEGA-TIMMY!"

"Ahh, ssso you remember me!" the evil being hissed. "Ssstupid fool, I bet you thought you'd gotten rid of me for good."

"Oh my gosh, Cosmo look!" Wanda pointed to the dark violet clad, black haired version of their godchild, "It's Nega-Timmy, Timmy's evil self from the opposite wish he made almost two years ago!"

"Oh yeah," Cosmo nodded, "the one you waited forever to make him unwish so you wouldn't look like a big nag."

"This is serious Cosmo, if he gets loose there's no telling what devastating havoc he could unleash! Like with the make-up factory!" Wanda shivered at the memory. She knew first hand how badly Cosmo needed his little touch-ups.

"What do you want?" Timmy demanded.

"Mwuhahahaha!" his evil double cackled madly, "That'sss for me to know and you to find out!"

"Ha! You don't scare me! I'll just wish you back to wherever you came from!" Timmy turned to his godparents who already had their wands prepared.

"Ah but you can't wish away what isn't there!" Nega-Timmy hissed and sprang for Timmy.

The two collided with Nega-Timmy bursting into a puff of red smoke.

"Uh...where'd he go?" Cosmo scratched his head.

"Uh-oh, you'd better take a look at this." Wanda was hovering over the coffin. She'd discovered an inscription upon shutting the lid.

Timmy shook off the odd feeling and stumbled over where he read it aloud.

"_Woe to he that unleash what lies_

_Buried hidden deep inside_

_An evil force we all must fight_

_A curse to plague our dreams at night_

_Lift the lid and seal your doom_

_The seed of evil will come to bloom._"

"Seed of evil?" Cosmo was even more confused...as usual. "Nega-Timmy's gonna grow evil plants? B-but he can't! Corn's a plant and corn is nice!"

"No you moron," Wanda snapped, "when you opened this coffin you freed Timmy's dark side, his evil self! Now he's in a lot of danger and Jack Oleander isn't here to help us fix this mess!"

"But why was my dark side the only one to come out?" Timmy asked.

"How should I know?" Wanda shrugged. "Maybe it only works on humans? Or it could be covered in the whole 'Bad Day' rule where fairies get to be completely the opposite of themselves anyway."

"Or maybe it's because you were the first one to poke your big pink hatted head inside?" Cosmo guessed, his tone way too cheerful for the situation.

The sound of the door creaking open up the stairs made the three occupants jump.

"We'd better get out of here guys," Timmy frowned, "If Jack finds out we messed with the coffin there's no telling what he'll do."

"I told you this was a bad idea Timmy," Wanda scolded.

"Nag later, flee now!" Cosmo panicked and raised his wand.

_POOF!_

Two fairy sized creatures scampered down the stairs and skidded to a halt when they caught sight of the coffin.

"Oh no Hocus," the first figure gasped, "look at the coffin! Someone's pried open the locks!"

"Yikes, this is bad Pocus!" the second figure pulled his hat down over his ears, "If Jack finds out a nega-creature got loose he'll gut us both like pumpkins!"

"Then we've gotta recapture it before he comes back," Pocus decided.

"And just how are we supposed to do that?" Hocus demanded, "It could be anywhere!"

"Hm...good point, we'll have to find some help." Pocus stroked his chin in thought, "Someone who'd be discreet, someone who's experienced in dealing with magical beings..."

"What about that kid Cupid hired?" Hocus suggested, "She's supposed to be really good at this stuff. And she's got those all powerful genie godparents to help out."

"Great idea Hocus!" they highfived, "Let's jet down to Dimmsdale before Jack hears about the escaped nega!"

* * *

_The next morning..._

Two goldfish hopped out of their bowl and poofed themselves back into fairies just as Timmy's alarm clock sounded.

"Morning Sport!" Wanda chirped and poofed a sewing machine onto his lap, "Ready to get to work on making that costume for tonight?"

"Um...no." Timmy replied annoyed, his tone a bit scratchier than normal. "Incase you've forgotten it's Saturday. And that means-"

Cosmo zipped over and the two shouted. "CARTOONS!"

"Ungh..." Wanda hunched over, "I give up."

In a flash Timmy was out of bed and sliding next to Cosmo in front of the television. But when they turned on the power a very unsettling image came onto the screen.

"Hi there special viewers!" an orange haired, pink clad, overly peppy daycare worker greeted them with his face way too close to the camera.

"AAHHH!" Timmy yelled, "It's Gary!"

"And don't forget me!" a female voice chimed in, "Happy Peppy Betty!"

Timmy's face turned green.

"We're here to make a very important announcement, right Betty?" Gary grinned.

"That's right Gary! We're launching a 24-hour campaign to officially ban the icky, spooky, dangerous holiday of Halloween and replace it with a funducational one!"

"WHAT!" Timmy was outraged, "First they try to steal my summer and now they're trying to ban Halloween! They won't get away with this!"

"And now a word from our special guest...the mayor!" Gary stepped aside to reveal the publicity loving mayor of Dimmsdale.

"As your mayor I fully endorse this idea and urge all you parents out there to ban the tricking and back the teaching!" the goat behind him bleated in what one might assume was indifference.

Timmy's jaw hit the floor.

"After all, what citizen wouldn't prefer a nice un-egged, un-teepeed house over the mess those pesky kids leave behind every time October 31st rolls around?"

"But...but...we're KIDS!" Timmy exclaimed, "We're SUPPOSED to have fun and pull pranks on Halloween. That's why it's called TRICK-or-treating!"

Betty reappeared on the screen, "So instead of letting your precious little pranskter-wanksters run loosey-woosey on Halloween-"

"-drop them off at Camp Learn-A-Torium where the fun is always clean!" Gary finished.

The set was shut off leaving Timmy's room in dead silence. His fairy godparents stared at each other worriedly while Timmy continued to speechlessly gaze into the black screen at his own reflection.

Then the high pitched voice of doom split the silence and confirmed his fears.

"Ooo, that's sounds wonderful!" Mrs. Turner exclaimed from downstairs where she and her husband had no doubt seen the advertisement too. "Timmy loves Camp Learn-A-Torium! I'm sure he'll have lots of good clean non-vigilante fun spending tonight there instead!"

"I'll call Vicky and tell her we won't be needing her to drive over after all." Mr. Turner offered as he picked up the phone. "Just think of all the money we'll save! I can pay to have these splinters removed by a professional!"

"I said I was sorry," Mrs. Turner huffed, "It's not my fault you squealed like a girl whenever I brought out the tweezers."

"Your aim is terrible woman!"

"Wimp!"

Back upstairs Timmy's right eye began to twitch.

"Uh hon? Are you alright?" Wanda ventured.

"ALRIGHT!" Timmy burst out causing Cosmo to cower behind his wife, "How can I be alright! Aside from being psychologically disturbed by Dad's loud complaining I just lost my Halloween to those nutcases in pink sweater vests!"

"Oh like you're one to be dissing the color pink!" Cosmo huffed. "That is so whack!"

"Cosmo if you don't stop talking like that I'll take your wand, shave you bald, and stick you in the Learn-A-Torium's nursery." Wanda threatened.

"Aww," Cosmo still hadn't gotten it through his head that women DON'T mean the opposite of what they say, "I love you too baby!"

Timmy flopped backwards on the floor, "How can this day possibly get any worse?"

* * *

"I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS!" Vicky shouted. "HOW CAN THIS DAY POSSIBLY GET ANY WORSE!"

In the kitchen her parents trembled over their cups of coffee. "I-Is something wrong dear?" her mother asked.

"I'll say there's something wrong!" Vicky exclaimed as she came stomping in from the living room. "Thanks to that stupid campaign those geeks at Camp Learn-A-Torium are running the twerp's parents have called and cancelled my babysitting gig for tonight! I'm losing all my business to this stupid Halloween ban!"

"At least you'll have more time to study now pumpkin," Vicky's father pointed out, hoping to stiffen her fury.

"Who care's about studying if I can't save up enough to build the lousy daycare center I'm going to school to get certified for!" the redhead snapped.

"At least you're not being sent to Peppy Prison Camp." The refrigerator door closed to reveal Vicky's little sister sulking over a glass of orange juice. She was already wearing the embarrassing Learn-A-Torium uniform from her last trip to the rhyming day camp of doom.

"You guys are making her go too?" Vicky couldn't believe this, her own sister being shoved off on the enemy!

"We just thought it'd be a lot safer than having her wander the streets all night." Her mom replied after taking a sip from her coffee mug.

"And with all the other kids going it just wouldn't be much fun trick-or-treating all alone anyway." Their father added.

"Heh, enjoy the 'fun' squirt." Vicky shoved past her sister to grab a box of cereal.

"Yeah right," Tootie frowned, "what kid wouldn't want a tray full of fat free soy cubes instead of a big bag of candy?"

She finished her orange juice and went outdoors to enjoy what few hours of precious freedom she had left in the day. Once she was sure no one else was around she darted under a tree near the street corner and waited for her godparents to reveal themselves.

"Excuse me miss, could you direct me to the nearest hospital?" a male's voice inquired as a shadow fell over the pre-teen. "Cause I'm gonna be in stitches from laughing at your geeky pink sweater vest, ahahaha!"

"Knock it off Norm," Des scolded just as she appeared on the other side of their godchild. "Tootie don't listen to that big jerk. You'll have a lot of fun tonight. I'm sure there'll be plenty of activities at the Learn-A-Torium and hey, all your friends will be there."

"Lookin' every bit as miserable as you." Norm smirked.

"But I hate that place!" Tootie blurted out and sunk to the ground, "Why'd they have to go and ruin Halloween for everyone? Isn't there some sort of law against that? Now I'll never get to wear my fairy princess costume!"

Both genies rolled their eyes at that.

"Aw what's so great about fairies anyway?" Norm muttered.

"They're not the only kind of princesses around ya know?" Des sighed.

"It doesn't matter, I'm not going trick-or-treating so there isn't going to be a costume."

While Tootie was staring dejectedly at the fallen leaves by her shoes two 'kids' in costumes appeared...out of nowhere?

"Trick or treat!"

Norm and Des jumped and spun around. "Where did they come from?" Des gasped.

"Oh great, busted!" Norm griped.

"Cool genie costumes!" one of the two kids disguised as ghosts (typical bed sheets with eyeholes) pointed towards the godparents.

"Uh...right." Des sweatdropped, "Costumes, because we...well we...don't look like this normally, heh."

"How'd you get those tails to swirl around like that?" the other inquired.

Before Norm could lose his patience Tootie stood and cut-in. "Why are you dressed up for Halloween? Haven't you heard yet? It's been cancelled."

The two kids immediately jolted and tore off their disguises, revealing two pointy eared, oddly attired, magical beings with horrified expressions. "WHAT!"

The trio beneath the tree jerked back in surprise.

"Now there's something ya don't see everyday." Norm muttered, "Two imps wandering the streets in old pillowcases."

"Imps?" Tootie questioned.

"Hey pal these are a hundred percent cotton bed sheets!" Hocus shouted, "A classic!"

"Yeah now what's all this nonsense about cancelling Halloween?" Pocus insisted, "No one can CANCEL Halloween!"

"No one except two disturbingly happy daycare workers." Des remarked snidely, "Just what the heck are two imps doing out in the open like this?"

"Oh sorry," Hocus flashed a cheesy grin, "forgot my manners. I'm Hocus and this is my twin brother Pocus."

"We're from the spooky realm of Jack Oleander." Pocus explained.

Tootie raised an eyebrow, "Who?"

"The spirit of Halloween!" Pocus replied, "Ya might say we're his trusted assistants."

"Not anymore if he finds out about the coffin mishap." Hocus cringed.

"Coffin mishap?" Des eyed the two suspiciously.

"Ehehe," Hocus removed his cap and wrung it nervously, "ya see, while we were out running our pre-holiday rounds someone broke into the sealed coffin the boss keeps hidden in his basement."

"We were SUPPOSED to be guarding it but we fell a little behind in our work so the errands kept us away longer than they should have." Pocus admitted.

"You mean you were goofing off." Des summarized.

The imps blushed and started to fidget about. "How were we supposed to know this would happen? Most people are too terrified to enter the castle, let along go down into the basement."

"Hocus is right, and now there's a nega-creature loose and we need your help to recapture it and seal it back in the coffin before Jack finds out and has us stuffing scarecrows until next Halloween!"

"Well then we don't have much time," Tootie concluded, "my parent's are making me go to the Learn-A-Torium at five. Wait, what exactly is a nega-creature anyway?"

"An evil version of a human or magical being like us." Pocus explained, "And they're bad to the bone kid. Not the kinda spooks you'd wanna meet in a dark alley."

"Exactly how is she supposed to recapture it then?" Des didn't like the sound of this, her overprotective side was kicking in on full alert.

"You've got access to Cupid's armory right?" Hocus asked hopefully.

"Yeah..."

"So use the positive magic in those weapons of love to bring down that baddie!"

"And why should we risk our necks to save yours?" Norm questioned.

The imps paused and exchanged thoughtful glances before snapping their fingers and replying.

"Because if you do, we'll help you!"

"Yeah we'll get Jack to personally restore Halloween to Dimmsdale."

A grin spread over Tootie's face. _Maybe I'll get to wear my fairy princess costume after all!_ "Okay then, you've got a deal!"

* * *

To be continued...


	3. The Bewitching Hour

_**The Hollow Halloween**_

Chapter Three: The Bewitching Hour

Tootie decided to begin the investigation by visiting the scene of the crime. It was what any good detective would do...at least that's what always happened in the movies.

Hocus and Pocus led the way down to the basement eager to have the matter resolved before Jack could return and find out a nega-creature had gotten lose.

"I don't know why I bothered." Norm griped as he floated alongside Des down to the musty, dank basement. "It's not like I'm getting anything out of this deal."

"Maybe if you're good you'll catch pneumonia." Des muttered clearly tired of hearing him complain.

"What was that?"

She plastered on a sugary sweet grin and faced him, "I said a good deed is its own reward."

Norm rolled his eyes, "_Right_, like you'd be half this well behaved if you didn't have the little fruit cup to act nice for."

He heard Des growl in frustration which signaled that round one had just gone to him. Norm grinned smugly, _Dames, call their bluff and out come their claws._

They reached the bottom of the stairs on the other side of the door and waited for Pocus to switch on the lights. Once the place was dimly lit by a few flickering bulbs Hocus pointed to the coffin laying beside a stack of trunks. "There it is, the nega-portal. The locks have been broken but we don't know who did it."

"It does look kind of spooky." Tootie took a step back wishing she hadn't spent last night watching old Dracula films.

"What's the matter candy corn?" Norm teased, "Too scared to do your job?"

"Norm!" Des hissed, but Tootie was already stomping towards the eerie box. "I'll show you who's scared!"

"Aahhh, I wouldn't do that if I were you." Pocus warned but froze at the sound of voices just up the stairs.

"I told Jack we needed to have some kinda security system installed!" Spete grumbled, "This is what? The second time this week we've had people droppin' in on us?"

"Oh Spete, don't be so suspicious." Phana lightly scolded her companion, "It's probably just Hocus and Pocus scampering about down there."

"Why the boss left those two in charge of guarding the nega-portal I'll never know." Spete continued, annoyance rising in his voice.

"Nega-portal?" Tootie repeated.

"Oh man!" Hocus started to panic and turned to his brother. "It's Phana and grouchy ol' Spete! We can't let them find out about this!"

"Yeah," Pocus gulped, "they'll tell Jack for sure!"

"C'mon we've gotta stop 'em." The two brothers raced up the stairs leaving Tootie and her genie godparents alone with the strange coffin.

"I've got a bad feeling about this kiddo," Des frowned as Tootie gathered up her courage and neared the coffin again, "Maybe we shouldn't-"

"I'm not scared!" Tootie said more to convince herself than Des.

She wiped a bit of dust off the lid and read the inscription aloud. "Hm, sounds like some kind of warning."

"Probably to scare off thieves and stuff," Norm shrugged, "I bet antiques like this fetch a pretty price on the black magic market."

Des shot him a disapproving glare. "Uh...not that I would know." he grinned sheepishly and gave his bowtie a tug.

Cautiously Tootie lifted the lid…

Nothing.

"It's empty." She shrugged and glanced over her shoulder. Before she could turn back around a blast of cryptic red light and black flames sprang up from the coffin.

"WHAT'S HAPPENING?!" Tootie shielded her eyes and backed away. The roar of the flames was deafening yet it seemed confined to those in the immediate vicinity of the opened portal.

"IT'S THE PORTAL!" Des shouted, "WE'VE GOTTA GET THE LID DOWN!"

"I'M ON IT!"

Norm struggled against the force of the eerie inferno until he was able to grip the edge of the coffin. But before he could lay a finger on the lid a frightful howl emanated from somewhere within the portal. As if that sound alone weren't enough to make their blood run cold it was followed by an equally disturbing wicked cackle. Two figures took shape in the bright red light and soon both genies found themselves being stared down by their evil nega-selves.

Nega-Norm and Nega-Des hovered with sinister grins spread over their faces. Nega-Norm had been the source of the howl. He resembled a werewolf with studded arm and wristbands and a shredded aqua blue vest.

"Oh man," Norm gulped staring at himself, "I need a shave."

Nega-Des looked every bit the stereotype of a wicked witch. Ghastly green tail, black pointed hat, broomstick belly ring, and tattered black clothes.

"So that's what I'd look like if I lost my sense of fashion." Des murmured.

"Trick or treat?" Nega-Des grinned.

"Heh, thanks for opening the portal boneheads," Nega-Norm laughed, "we were afraid we'd miss all the fun."

"And ssspeaking of fun," Nega-Des and Nega-Norm moved aside as another figure took shape. Tootie gasped when a menacing, dark purple, grey complexioned version of herself was revealed.

"What's going on?!" she blurted out, taking a step back only to fall flat on her butt. "Who--what--are you?!"

The red eyed girl chuckled revealing a set of fangs without the hindrance of braces. "Just call me, Nega-Tootie!"

"Alright I've seen enough," Norm wasn't about to show fear in front of the girls...they'd never let him live it down. "You costumed wannabes dive right back into that overdone lightshow and uh...don't come out til ya knock it off with the snake bit."

The three nega-creatures laughed in unison but halted when the door swung open on its creaky hinges. "Enough talk," Nega-Des eyed the staircase warily, "if we don't move soon those meddling imps will seal us back in."

Norm made a lunge for the lid but found himself colliding with Nega-Norm instead. Des coughed from the puff of the red smoke left behind when her nega-self sprang towards her. "Where'd they go? Tootie?!"

Tootie was in a face-off with her opposite. "What do you want?" she demanded.

"What any nega wantsss," Nega-Tootie replied with an evil grin, "to be the most evil creature in the entire world! Just like you I've got the ability to _outgrow_ my current form. All I need is a sssingle black rose. And with my arsenal of hate I'll turn everyone in Dimmsdale into their nega-selves! And that'sss just the beginning! But first...I'll have to get rid of you!"

Phana fazed through the door and flew straight down to the coffin, slamming the lid shut. Hocus and Pocus weren't far behind her. Pocus carried Spete in his hands, grimacing as the spider chewed him out the whole way down. "See! I told ya so! When they started jugglin' candy corn I just KNEW something was up down here!"

With a sigh of relief Phana pushed a stray strand of hair out of her face. "Well at least we made it down here before-"

"AAAHHH!!!" Tootie's scream rang out.

"Oh no!" Hocus exclaimed, "Tootie!"

"Who's Tootie?" the phantom and spider asked in unison.

The imps rushed over to find the girl climbing out of one of the clothing piles by the back wall. Coughing from the dust and--was that smoke?

"Ungh," Des floated into view holding her head, "anyone get the license plate of that truck?"

"Get my lawyer on the phone," Norm's arm appeared from under a toppled stack of crates. "I'll sue!"

Phana fazed him out and turned to glare at the sheepish imps who'd helped Tootie to her feet. "You two have a lot of explaining to do. Just wait until Jack hears about this."

Hocus and Pocus blanched white, "You're not gonna tell him are you?!"

"And why shouldn't we?" Spete demanded, already scurrying up the steps. "You two slackers let your guard down and snuck three intruders into the castle! Now there's probably who knows how many nega-creatures on the loose?!"

"But it wasn't our fault!" Pocus insisted.

Phana twisted her frown to the side and glared down at them disbelievingly.

"Okay," Hocus flinched, "so maybe it was our fault. But we were trying to fix it! Honest!"

Tootie shook her head and recalled the last few moments, "Wait! Where'd she go?"

"She?" Spete stopped and threw two of his appendages into the air. "There's another one of you jokers down here?!"

"No," Tootie's eyes darted around uneasily, "Nega-Tootie, she's...she's gone!"

Quicker than lightning Phana had both imps by their pointed ears. "We're going to tell Jack. NOW!"

"But it's Halloween!" Hocus pointed out, "We'll never be able to track him down in time!"

"Plus," Pocus added, dragging his foot across the floor, "we think another one got out."

"What?!" Spete was getting too old for this, "When?!"

"Last night," Pocus answered and pointed at Tootie, "that's why we brought her. She's that operative who works for Cupid."

"We figured she could help." Hocus shrugged, not taking his eyes off the floor. "We didn't mean for another nega to escape."

"Actually," Tootie spoke up timidly, "That was my fault. Please don't be mad at them. I promise I'll stop the negas. Just give me a chance."

"NO WAY!" Spete snapped.

Phana seemed to relent though, "Alright, you can try to stop them. But be careful, if a nega comes in contact with their opposite they can overshadow them. You'll need Cupid's help on this. And you two," she tugged at the imps' ears, "are coming with me to look for Jack. And you're going to tell him EVERYTHING."

The imp brothers exchanged dismal glances, "We were afraid you'd say that."

"And what am I supposed to do?!" Spete demanded.

"You stay here incase Jack returns." Phana answered. "Someone's got to watch over the castle and make sure no one else opens that portal."

"Hn, you'd figure being genies we'd be immune to this whole 'nega-version' deal." Norm scoffed and folded his arms.

"Maybe this is part of why being rule-free is a bad thing?" Des sighed. _No 'Bad Day' rule equals no nega-version immunity.  
_

* * *

"Oh Timmy!" Mr. Turner called up the stairs to his son. "Hurry up and get down here or you'll be late for extra fundamentals at Camp Learn-A-Torium!" 

Up in his room Timmy glared at his reflection in the mirror. "That would be a real shame," he spat, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Uh Sport?" Wanda ventured, "You're looking pretty pale today. Maybe you should stay home?"

"What? If I stay here Gary and Betty are gonna turn Halloween into some lame sugar-free, anti-fun day!"

"But Timmy," Cosmo fretted, "it's Camp Learn-A-Torium, there's LEARNING! How are you gonna stop that?!"

"Oh I'm sure sssomething will come to mind. In fact, I wouldn't missss tonight for the world! MWUHAHAHAHA!!!"

Right on cue the mirror shattered, each piece reflecting an image of an almost black haired Timmy laughing evilly.

"Wanda," Cosmo floated behind his wife, "what's wrong with Timmy? His sinister smile is creeping me out."

The pink haired fairy frowned down at her oddly behaving godchild, "I'm not sure Cosmo but something tells me that's not our Timmy."

_HONK! HONK!_

At the sound of the car horn Timmy rushed out the door and called over his shoulder, "See ya suckers! I've got some trouble to brew!"

"C'mon Cosmo!" Wanda snatched her husband's wrist and raised her wand, "We've got to follow him!

* * *

_Up in the Love Bunker..._

"Leaping lilies!" Cupid shouted, "You mean to tell me that there are TWO nega-creatures loose in Dimmsdale?!"

"Yeah," Tootie cringed, "is that...bad?"

"Is it bad?!" Cupid repeated, "It's worse than bad, it's HORRIBLE!"

Des frowned, "Does he _always_ have to be so dramatic?"

"It's the caffeine," Norm muttered, "guy drinks enough to keep Sandman jittery year-round."

Ignoring the mumbling genies Cupid flew over to his desk and smashed a fist down on a large red heart-shaped button. "One nega-creature is easy enough to stop but when you've got two they tend to work together and become twice as powerful! So we've got to get to them fast before they start spreading that negative energy."

Norm and Des exchanged uneasy glances. Neither felt it wise to mention that they'd lost track of their nega-selves too.

"You wanna tell him or should I?" Norm muttered.

"Shh!" Des hissed.

"How can they spread it if the portal's closed up?" Tootie inquired.

The back wall to Cupid's office rose up revealing what appeared to be two endless rows of shelves stocked with every sort of love weapon imaginable.

"Once they're loose nega-creatures can enhance their dark magic by doing bad deeds." Cupid explained, "After they've grown powerful enough they can start changing people into their nega-versions without using a portal."

"That's terrible!" Tootie gasped.

"Just think of all those unsuspecting humans down there," Cupid continued, zipping down the rows of shelves and tossing weapons over his shoulders for Tootie and her godparents to catch, "once they're in the clutches of those nasty negas they'll be totally helpless! Which is why WE'VE got to go stop them!"

"Whoa..." Norm didn't like the sound of this. A mission with pretty in pink boy? Not on his watch. "What d'ya mean 'we'?"

Cupid spun around and propped his hands on his hips, "You don't think I'm gonna send the kid out there to face negas by herself?!"

"Hey!!" both genies took offense.

"Ehehe," Tootie glanced from her fuming godparents to the stubborn cherub and felt a bead of sweat roll down the side of her face. Sometimes mediating between the three magical beings reminded her of trying to keep the peace at home. "Let's not fight guys. We've gotta stay focused remember?"

"Focused on what?"

Every head turned to see a blonde sprite hovering in the entranceway.

"Chartre!" Des beamed, "We gotta stop meeting like this."

"Oh great," the sprite frowned, "trouble again?"

Norm arched an eyebrow and held up the mound of weapons he'd been tossed, "How'd ya guess?"

"No time for chitchat daffodil," Cupid fastened a lavender headband around his pink hair and struck a heroic pose, "We're going to war!"

"War?" Chartre's eyes widened, "Why?"

"Because love-" Cupid narrowed his eyes in a serious manner, "-is a _battlefield_."

_POOF!_

_CHARGE!_

"Oh brother!" Norm rolled his eyes and shuffled the items he was holding so he'd have room to snap. "I say we put Diaper Boy on the front line."

"Should I be worried?" Chartre questioned Des.

"No..." Des didn't look so sure, "...well, it couldn't hurt to tag along?"

"Sigh," Chartre moaned, "I knew I shouldn't have closed up shop early today."

_GONG!_

* * *

They arrived in Tootie's backyard, the twelve-year-old darted around the house to find her parents starting the car. Upstairs a window was raised and a redhead leaned out.

"TOOTIE!! TIME FOR BABY BOOTCAMP SQUIRT!"

Tootie shot her sister a glare and returned to the backyard. "My parents are ready to leave, what now?"

"Now you head over to the Learn-A-Torium with this," Cupid responded pulling a rose out from his pack of arrows, "Negas live to destroy anything sappy, danger-free, educational, or non-violent. They'll probably be drawn to that place like flies to honey."

"Oh great," Tootie gulped and accepted the rose, careful to shove it inside her pink sweater vest without inhaling its scent, "what about you guys?"

"We'll fan out and try to catch those negas before they reach the kids." Cupid explained in a confident tone, "Just leave it to us kiddo and if you get into any trouble just whip out that rose."

Tootie nodded and rounded the corner as her magical companions paired off and split up. No sooner had she hopped in the backseat when an odd feeling overtook her. It was almost like...wicked glee?

_Those foolsss, they don't have any idea who they're messing with!_

Deep blue eyes widened behind her cat-eye glasses, "Wh-What was that?"

"What was what honey?" her mother asked glancing back at her in the rearview mirror as they backed down the driveway.

_Sssniveling dolts_, that strange voice again, _they don't even realize that they've just given me the key to unlocking my full power!_

"Seatbelt pumpkin," Tootie's dad reminded her, distracting her from the voice.

The sound of the buckle clicking into place was drowned out by a raspy dark laugh that seemed to echo through her mind like the night wind through the barren autumn trees.

As Tootie continued to puzzle over the strange sound the rose tucked away in her vest slowly darkened in its crimson hue. By the time the car arrived at its peppy destination the petals were already streaked with black.

* * *

To be continued...


	4. Bad Moon Rising

_**The Hollow Halloween**_

Chapter Four: Bad Moon Rising

It was just before seven o'clock in Dimmsdale and kids were being shipped into Camp Learn-A-Torium by the carload. Dismal faces grew dimmer when they noticed the traditional orange pumpkin faces and black-as-night bats were missing. Instead they got replaced by smiling yellow sunshines and pretty pink flowers.

"Aw man," Francis groaned, "this ain't no way to spend Halloween. I'm so mad I could pound the stuffin' outta the next dork I see."

Behind him AJ and Chester 'eeped' and dove behind the teeter-totter.

"Whoa there scary special friend!" Gary sprang out into the padded playground, "We can't have any violence on this, the most funducational of all holidays!"

"That's right!" his peppy partner cart wheeled outside to join in. "So prepare to have your frown turned upside down because-"

The kids' blinked in disbelief when the two sang out, "It's **_Funeduween_**!!"

"The funest-"

"-the bestest-"

"-the neatest-"

"-the safest-"

"-most educational new day of the year!"

"That's it," Chester mumbled, "I'm goin' to military school."

"I think I'm gonna be sick." Francis grumbled.

"But Mr. Gary," Sanjay spoke up from the crowd of miserable kids, "what is Halloween without the candy, the costumes, and the pulling of the mischievous pranks resulting in minor property damage?"

The carrot top was all too happy to chime in. "Well special guest, when it comes to Halloween we've decided that it's just too scary, too dangerous, and causes way too much tooth decay. So from now Funeduween will be your safe, healthy, scare-free alternative!"

"Oh yeah! Says who?!" Chad objected.

"Says us!" Betty beamed, "And--the Mayor!"

A collective "awwww" sounded all around as the kids were ushered inside the building.

Suddenly the doors flew open revealing a storm that seemed to come out of nowhere. In between the lightning flashes a figure appeared and slowly stepped out of the shadows to reveal-

"Oh goody!" Betty cheered, "Another special guest!!"

"No you foolsss," Timmy hissed, "it'sss me, your worst nightmare."

"Now now Mr. Nega Pants," Gary tsked, "we don't use mean names or scary words on Funeduween!"

"Funeduween?" the black haired boy repeated as though it was the most ludicrous word he'd ever heard…which it was.

"Run Timmy!" Chester shouted, "Get out while you still can!"

A sinister smirk appeared, "You expect me to run from the likesss of them? Ehehehe, why should I? When it will be much more _fun_ to have it the other way around..."

Gary and Betty exchanged bewildered looks.

"Eheh, I think now would be a good time to serve up the treaty wheaties," Betty suggested.

A cheer instantly rose from the kids.

"Good idea Betty," Gary cornily agreed and began to pass out yellow saucers like frisbees.

"Here we go!" Betty reappeared seconds later with a tray full of...

"Awww."

"Soy cubes!!" the daycare workers announced.

"But not just any soy cubes Gary."

"That's right Betty. These have been colored pink just for the occasion!"

"So eat up kids! There's plenty to go around!"

Timmy scowled at the disgusting health food.

No one noticed the final 'guest' to arrive. The dark haired girl slipped in silently and bypassed the others, choosing to lean against the far wall by the window instead.

From that vantage point she watched as a blonde in the second row skimmed the crowd. _Probably looking for me_, she smirked, _well for my former self anyway. Heh, too bad, Tootie's a little 'tied up' at the moment…in the recesses of her mind._

Red eyes shifted to glance out the window at the darkening sky. Sunset was nearly over and soon it would be time to set the plan into action. Negas were creatures of the night, and thus more powerful then, especially on this night, Halloween.

_That stupid scarecrow_, Nega-Tootie sneered, _he thought that by sealing the portal he could trap us all in that ridiculous coffin for good. But no one keeps a nega down! And speaking of which-_

She watched as the deep orange and reds of the autumn sky faded into purple and indigo hues.

_-my minions should be seizing control of those overbearing genies any time now…_

* * *

In a nearby park Tootie's genie godparents were patrolling the area for any signs of negas, especially theirs. They still weren't aware of the true danger lurking within.

"Better hurry up and catch them before we're overshadowed." Des gulped. "Green just really isn't my color."

"Yeah well I'm sure if you put it that way they'll just surrender and we can call it a night." her companion replied in his usual sarcastic tone.

Des ground her teeth. "I knew I should've stuck with Chartre."

"Ha, the sprite? _Right_," Norm snickered, "What's she gonna do, plant dandelions in their hair? Heh, that's useful."

"You are sssuch a jerk!" she instantly froze and slapped her hands over her mouth.

Norm's eyes widened behind the frames of his designer shades. "Whoa, what's up with the snake bit Dezzie?"

"I-I don't know," she mumbled.

"Well, uh…knock it off okay? For a second there you sounded just like…"

Norm trailed off; his gaze had drifted upward to where the moon had just started to peek out from behind the gray clouds floating across the sky. He seemed transfixed by the light.

"Norm?" Des waved a hand in front of his face, "Hello? Earth to Norm, wake up Norm."

Snapping her fingers she produced a megaphone and held it up to his ear. "HEY GENIE OF THE EGO TRIP, SNAP OUT OF IT!"

She dropped the device and gasped when he suddenly grabbed her by the shoulders. There was something seriously wrong with him. For one thing, his hands were—claws?!

Des watched in alarm as the tan fur traveled up his arms and covered his face. His hair and beard became unruly as his grip tightened until she could no longer feel her limbs. She hovered paralyzed by fear as the transformation progressed.

Suddenly he released an eerie howl-

"_ARROOOOO!!_"

-and it was done. She was left at the mercy…of Nega-Norm!

_Oh fez!_

"Well what do ya know," the being chuckled through a set of razor sharp fangs, "looks like **_I_** won the bet."

Before she could ask him what he was talking about a strange sensation flooded her senses. She felt her control over her body slip away and soon became a prisoner in her own mind. A new being emerged to take over and she was in no mood for her partner's gloating.

"Would you shut up already?" Nega-Des snapped, "How was I supposed to know she'd put up such a stubborn fight?"

"Heh, didn't look like she was doing much fighting to me Nega-Dezzie."

"Don't call me that!" she snapped out of his iron grip and rematerialized a few feet away, arms crossed and scowling at the moon. _That's the last time I gamble with a werewolf during a full moon._

"I believe you now owe me one T-bone steak, medium rare."

"You'll get a silver bullet if we're late for the master's scheme." she warned.

Nega-Norm blew on his claws and raked them against his shredded vest, "Don't be such a worry wart, we'll be there way before the bewitching hour. Everything's gonna go according to plan. By the time midnight rolls around this place'll be crawling with nega-creatures."

* * *

Wanda and Cosmo reached the Learn-A-Torium just as the festivities began. The boring, dull, educational 'fun'.

"Gyah!" Cosmo yelped and bit his nails, "This is horrible! So. Much. LEARNING!"

"Calm down Cosmo," Wanda was already searching the crowd of bummed out kids for their godchild, "we've gotta find Timmy."

She almost missed him, the grayish complexion, blackened hair, and dark circles under his eyes nearly made him unrecognizable. Something was definitely wrong, and it was getting worse.

"There he is!"

"Alright special funeduweeners!" a male voice sent Cosmo and Wanda in a panic. Quickly both poofed themselves into wall decorations and hid beside the ball pit.

"Aha!" Cosmo laughed, loving his new sunshine form. "Look at me! I'm bright!"

Wanda rolled her eyes and grinned. "Enjoy it while it lasts sweetie."

"Time to bob for apples!" Gary continued.

"YAY!"

The kids really should've learned by now that Funeduween wasn't half as fun as Halloween. There was always a dull and ridiculously overcautious twist.

Right on cue Betty chimed in, holding a snorkeling mask. "But before you do, make sure to wear the proper safety gear and do plenty of pre-bobbing breathing exercises! Remember kids-"

"Safety first!!"

From the edge of the front row Timmy scowled. _Those peppy dolts are speaking in unison again. _An unsettling smirk replaced the scowl. _I wonder if they'll **scream** that way._

Back on the wall the disguised fairies gasped.

"Did you see that Cosmo?" asked the 'flower'.

"S-See what?" the 'sunshine' gulped, "The way Timmy's eyes just flashed all red and scary like his evil self? Nope!"

"Oh, this is terrible. He's changing into Nega-Timmy!"

"What'll we do?!"

"I'm not sure there's a lot we can do." the Wanda flower frowned, "Until he makes a wish our wands are tied."

Timmy's pointed ears perked, he knew full well that his godparents had tagged along. In fact, he'd been counting on it.

_Perfect, with them here I can bend their magic to my will and make this the most terrifying Halloween ever! Move over Jack, I'M the new ghoul in charge!_

"Mwuhahahahaha!"

Up front Gary and Betty blinked.

"Oookay," the blonde forced an uneasy smile, there was just something creepy about that kid (and it wasn't just his teeth), "I think we have a volunteer!"

"Huh?" Timmy's forked tongue hung off to the side.

"Don't be shy," Gary coaxed, "come on down and lose that frown!"

A hiss from Timmy caused both adults to cower and step back. Betty shoved the snorkel mask at Gary and ran to get a bowl of water for the apples.

Reluctantly Gary held his ground as Timmy approached. _I knew I should've finished law school!_

"Oh no!" Cosmo gasped, "I can't look!"

But he didn't have much choice, as his arms couldn't extend enough to cover his eyes in his current form. "Ungh! Ungh! Stupid sunbeams!"

The other kids watched on the verge of boredom as Betty returned with the bowl of water and sat it on a stool by her quivering colleague and the 'eager volunteer'.

"A-Alright now," Gary swallowed a lump in his throat and held the mask toward Timmy, who immediately slapped it away. "Gyah!"

"I don't need diving equipment to fetch an apple fool!" he growled and stormed over to the bowl.

Gary rubbed his sore hand while Betty cringed. The other children were wide eyed after seeing Timmy's outburst. All but Francis, who grinned in amusement.

"Heh, looks like Turner's gonna get some time in 'the Fun Box'."

Timmy stared down at his altered reflection on the water's surface. The sinister smirk was back.

"Wait just a second there special friend!" Betty chirped.

"That's right!" Gary added, "Before you bob, you must learn!"

"About the apple and its nutritional val-"

A threatening snarl from Timmy made both blanch and tremble.

"-or maybe later?" Betty muttered.

"Hmph." Timmy turned back to the bowl and threw a glance over his shoulder. "Gee, I **wish **something creepy would happen to spice up this boring game." he mused aloud.

Both godparents gasped.

"Yah!" Cosmo shakily raised his wand, "He means us!"

"Don't do it Cosmo!" Wanda shouted, "He's evil, pure evil!"

But Cosmo was already breaking down. "Must resist...natural urge...to grant...wish!"

"NO!" Wanda shrieked as his wand activated.

No one noticed the bickering wall decorations. All eyes were on Timmy as he plunged his head into the icy cold water.

A few tense seconds passed. Everyone unconsciously leaned forward for a closer look. Then...

_SPLOOSH!!!_

"AAAAHHHH!!!"

Screams rang out when Timmy emerged with a slimy, rotten, worm-ridden apple clutched tightly in his fangs.

Grinning he spat the apple toward the teaching pair and snickered when Betty caught it and shrieked. A disgusting game of 'hot potato' ensued between the pair.

"Oh ew!" a familiar female voice cried. "This is totally gross!"

Whipping around he saw none other than Trixie Tang shooing a worm that had fallen from the apple.

"So they hate creepy crawlies huh? Well let's see how they feel about SPIDERS!" pointing to the fairies on the wall he snapped. "Make it so!"

This time it was Wanda who mechanically granted the wish.

"Hey!" Cosmo scolded.

"Sorry," she shrugged.

Instantly an army of arachnids started pouring out from every nook and cranny, from under every table and behind each inspirational poster. Soon the whole room was covered in eight-legged terrors!

A single figure stood by the window watching the scene play out with an unreadable expression. Up until now she'd be silent, just sitting back and observing the clash of pure evil verses pure sap.

"Whoa-oh!" Nega-Norm peered in from outside. "Looks like that Turner kid's started the fun without us."

"That's no 'kid'," the silent figure hissed. "It's a nega-creature. One of us."

"I don't care what he is," Nega-Des sneered as she appeared next to Nega-Norm, "the little grub worm is interfering with our evil scheme. Want me to turn him into a toad?"

Nega-Tootie waved her off. "No, if Nega-Timmy wants to be bad, I say we let him spoil their pathetic celebration. Either way, we negas win."

"Hmph, if you say so." the witchy creature pouted.

"So what?" her partner shrugged, "We just gonna hang out here and let Count Buckula have all the fun?"

Their master flashed a fang revealing grin and removed a black petaled rose from her vest. "Nope, while he's stirring up the sniveling kids of Dimmsdale…we're going to unleash our fellow negas."

The werewolf smirked, "Now that's a plan I'm excited to be a part of!"

* * *

Back across the room Timmy stood amidst the madness, now completely overshadowed by his nega-self. It had taken all of five minutes to turn his peers into a frenzied mass of screaming dolts. And of course, he was just getting started… 

"I think this party could use a little sprucing up, don't you?" Nega-Timmy chuckled darkly.

"Um..." Cosmo cast an uneasy glance at Wanda. "What'll we do now?"

"There's nothing we can do," his wife fretted, "Nega or not that's still Timmy, so we're stuck granting his every wish!"

"I was afraid you were gonna say that." Cosmo sighed.

Together the fairies raised their wands and set to work spooking up the Funeduween decorations. Soon the walls were oozing green slime, tables became cryptic coffins, and bats swooped down from the ceiling screeching fiercely.

"Mwuhahahahaha!!!" Nega-Timmy cackled at the sight of his pink clad peers screaming and running in terror.

"Eh, I don't know what everybody's getting so excited about," Chester shrugged and poured himself another cup of punch, "my trailer's ten times scarier than this."

A hissing noise caused him to look down. "Gah! Snake! Go swim in someone else's punch!"

"Well, you can't spook 'em all." Wanda shrugged.

"YAH!!" AJ's was the next scream to pierce the air, "There's a scorpion in my soy cube!"

The genius froze, blinked, then beamed. "Hey...there's a scorpion in my soy cube. Yay!"

"Ahaha, looks like some good came outta this." Cosmo grinned.

"This is like so uncool!" Trixie whined as she and Veronica raced toward the exit. "I'm so out of here!"

Before they could make it to safety gooey spider webs appeared, blocking every way out.

"EW!"

"ICK!"

"Like, what is going on here?!" the blonde exclaimed, tugging on the sticky strands in her hair. "This is the lamest Funeduween ever!"

"And it was pretty lame before," Trixie added. "And where did these stupid spider webs come from?!"

"AAAHH!!" a double scream answered their question.

Twisting against the webbing they saw their 'funducational' day care providers being cocooned by a hungry giant spider.

"Make that two good things," the green-eyed fairy laughed.

"Let's get outta here!" Elmer screamed as the bat swarm thickened.

Soon kids were fleeing for their lives, leaping out windows and breaking through the sticky webbing. The nega-ringleader remained undaunted. "Let them run, there's nowhere to hide."

"Not bad," a sinister voice remarked, "but look what I can do."

"Huh?" Nega-Timmy spun around just as Nega-Tootie's transformation was complete. "Who are you?!"

An evil, raven haired teen dressed in a skimpy dark purple dress and fishnet sleeves smirked down at him. "Just call me, Nega-Trudy!"

Right on cue lightning flashed and two supernatural beings appeared, both in nega-form.

"Meet my partners in crime, Nega-Norm and Nega-Des." she introduced them, "Together we're going to turn everyone in this spook-hating town into nega-creatures of the night!"

"How?" Nega-Timmy scoffed, "The portal's been closed!"

Nega-Trudy conjured up a hate canon, much like the love canons found in Cupid's bunker, but with a reverse effect. "With an arsenal of nega-powered weapons like this, who needs portals?"

"I see," Nega-Timmy noted, "so with enough nega-energy we can bring out the worst in everyone? Ha! I knew there had to be a way to outsmart that second-rate holiday!"

Now that he was up to speed on the plan, Nega-Trudy turned to her assistants and wished them all armed for battle. The nega-genies eagerly obeyed and faster than one-two-GONG the chaos began.

* * *

"Hey boss!" a blue, bat-winged creature barged into the office of the most hateful creature in the Anti-Fairy Zone.

The black haired being spun around in his chair, his brow furrowed in sheer annoyance.

"O-Oh," Anti-Twitter hooked a finger on his mouth, "your mother makin' ya dress all professional again?"

Anti-Cupid's temper was always at its foulest whenever his mother was around. From the looks of things, her most recent surprise inspection of the Hate Bunker hadn't gone well.

Ignoring the question the head anti-cherub clawed at the armrests and spat, "Just get to the point! What the heck's going on?!"

"W-Well sir," Anti-Twitter stuttered, "we just got a call from the guys in the armery. T-Turns out some of our most powerful weapons have gone...missing."

"WHAT?!" the entire Hate Bunker shook with Anti-Cupid's cry of outrage.

Immediately he ripped off his black wig and threw it aside, poofing himself out of that stuffy penguin suit and into his dark blue leather jacket. _Much better! _He really despised looking anything like his 'pansy double'.

"Who dares to raid MY arsenal of hate? Hearts are gonna break for this! What else is gonna go wrong today?!"

"A-Actually sir," his assistant ventured, "we did manage to trace their location back to a town below on Earth."

"So then what're ya waiting for?!" the testy anti-cherub snapped, "Show me!"

Zipping over to the control panel Anti-Twitter punched in a few codes until the Broken Heart Monitor lit up with the frantic chaos down in Dimmsdale.

"What in the name of dark chocolate is going on down there?" Anti-Cupid gasped. The scene was so unruly, so upsetting, so frightening, it was... _sniff, beautiful!_

* * *

"Aaahhh!" Sanjay had barely gotten one foot across the threshold from the padded playground to freedom when a handful of sharp nails snatched him up from behind.

"And just where do you think you're going little trick-or-treater?" Nega-Trudy chuckled, "And where's your costume?"

Sanjay's teeth chattered when she materialized a black broken heart tipped arrow in her free hand.

"Maybe I can help?" her voice was laced with malice.

One blood curdling scream later she dropped the squirming boy and watched with fiendish delight as he went from cowardly kid to menacing nega.

"Ahahahaha!" the newly released Nega-Sanjay laughed. "Now I am free! Free to wreak havoc on all of Dimmsdale!"

"Heh, one down, a whole city to go." Nega-Trudy summoned another arrow and watched her first victim search his cape, no doubt looking for something sharp and destructive. "Not bad, if I do say so myself."

"Aha! Behold-" he whipped out a sharp metallic object and took off, running circles around the sandbox, "-I am running with scissors!"

Nega-Trudy sighed and slumped over, "Well, considering what I had to work with."

* * *

"Wow," Anti-Twitter remarked as the screen cut to another area of the city, "that's pathetic. Want me to send down the Heart Stompers?"

Anti-Cupid tapped his chin thoughtfully, a single fang protruded from his broadened grin. "No...let's let them have their fun. And keep an eye on this nega-chick. With a little work, she could prove_ useful_ to our side."

* * *

To Be Continued… 


	5. Night of the Negas

_**The Hollow Halloween**_

Chapter Five: Night of the Negas

A witch's cackling rang out in the night as Nega-Des chased a small group of kids in sweater vests down the street carting a massive Spurned Love Grenade Launcher on her shoulder.

"What'll we do?" Chester panted, "That crazy lady with the misty tail's gaining on us!"

"Yeah," Elmer was sweating like a pig, "we can't keep this up much longer!"

The laughter came again as she vanished only to reappear right in front of them. "I'll get you my pretties...and your humungous boil too!"

"Hey!" Elmer objected.

"Quiet you fool!" the boil hissed. "I don't want to be a wart on a frog."

* * *

Not much further away the two popular girls rushed down an alley only to find themselves at a dead end.

"Like, what now Trixie?" Veronica questioned.

"I don't know!" her friend panicked, "We're...we're trapped!"

Suddenly both were thrown into coughing fits as aqua colored smoke filled the alleyway. From amidst the smoke a hairy figure rose and cut off their only exit.

"Nowhere to run creampuffs?" Nega-Norm chided, "Then how's about a nega-makeover?"

In a snap a hate arrow crossbow appeared. But before he could fire-

"Not so fast you poorly dressed ruffian!"

-a blast of positive magic hit him from behind and sent him flying into the dumpster.

"Remy-poo!" Trixie exclaimed.

The girls hastily ran over to Remy and his floating friend.

"Uh..." Veronica pointed to the latter, "who's this?"

"Why he's my fairy--err--fairly short friend from my days back at the F.U.N. Academy."

"Wandissimo Magnifico," the fairy bowed and planted a kiss atop Trixie's hand, "at your service."

"Ooo," Trixie was clearly impressed by the flattery. But something dawned on her, "Remy, how'd you get out of going to that totally unpopular day camp?"

"Oh sure my parents wanted me to attend those dreadfully boring festivities like all the others. But I managed to talk them out of it." he boosted and winked to his fairy godparent, "And by 'talk' I mean 'bribe'."

Veronica started to grow nervous, "We'd uh, better like get out of here before that creepy guy in the werewolf costume comes back."

"Right," Buxaplenty nodded, "come along now, we'll be safe at my mansion."

* * *

"Oh my stars!" Cupid exclaimed into his wrist communicator, "Things have gotten completely out of hand down here! My operative's a nega?!"

"And her genie godparents too sir," Twitter's image added. "What are we going to do?"

"I'll tell what we're gonna do," Cupid narrowed his eyes and twisted his helmet back in place, "We're gonna round up these negas and cancel out that black magic. Sound the alarm!"

The Love Bunker went into red alert. Cherubs and Thunderhearts raced down to Dimmsdale to undo the havoc the negas had wrought.

"To arms!" Cupid paused when he noticed that no one was around to hear his heroic battle cry. "Um...Chartre?"

* * *

"Got'cha now deary!" Nega-Des cackled and fired her weapon.

A pastel blur darted between the nega-genie and her targets. "Des, NO!"

Chester ran for cover while Elmer cringed and held up his arms. When anxious seconds passed with no trace of pain he slowly lowered his arms and peeked ahead. "Wh-What happened?"

"Elmer!" Chester shouted from behind a nearby mailbox, "RUN!"

The witchy nega-genie hovered in place, momentarily uninterested in her escaping prey. "Not exactly what I was going for but hn, you'll do."

When the smoke cleared a pale nega-sprite stood and smirked back. "The more the scarier."

* * *

All across town Cupid and the cherubs were doing a fairly good job of rounding up the negas and dispelling their negative energy.

Just a block away the Love Fairy could see Twitter zeroing in on the unsuspecting Nega-Timmy.

"Ahahaha!" the nega was rubbing his hands together deviously as he advanced on AJ.

"T-Timmy?" the child genius stammered, "Wh-What's going on? What happened to your voice? I-Is that some kinda skin condition?"

"I'd love to play 20 Questions," the nega replied sarcastically, "but I think you'll appreciate this more when you're an _evil_ genius like me."

AJ had to choke back a laugh, "Y-You? Aha! A _genius_?"

"Yesss, thanks to that ridiculous Funeduween idea all the adults are out of the picture. So turning the children of Dimmsdale will be a synch. And then, the entire city will fall victim to our evil plot!"

"Think again pal!" Twitter released his arrow and watched it nail the startled nega in the tush.

Not really able to wrap his brain around the highly illogical situation, AJ slipped away while Timmy came out of his daze.

"Alright!" Cupid cheered, "We're on a roll now!"

"You think sssso?"

The cherub's pupils shrank. He knew that voice, albeit it was a bit raspy now. Slowly he turned to face the speaker. "B-Buttercup?"

"Hey there, Lover Boy." Nega-Chartre flexed her nails and motioned him forward, "Let's dance."

* * *

Timmy jerked his gaze around frantically. "Whoa, what the heck's going on?"

Everything had come to a climax, the bulk of the negas were thwarted leaving only Nega-Trudy, her nega-genies, and Nega-Chartre, the most powerful of the lot.

"Oh no! The spirit of Halloween's gonna freak when he sees this! I've gotta find Cosmo and Wanda and wish things back to normal."

Amidst the fray Nega-Trudy caught sight of the fleeing boy as he rounded the street corner. "Hmph, should've known he'd be too weak to stay bad."

The nega-genies appeared on either side of their master and stared after him.

"Things aren't goin' so well," Nega-Norm informed her, "those cherubs keep comin' and we're running low on negas. How not great is that?"

"Well at least I managed to turn one," Nega-Des bragged.

Her partner blew her a raspberry and crossed his paws. "Big deal, like we really needed a couple of preppy negas anyway."

"Forget the others," Nega-Trudy scowled, "we can't let that brat reach his godparents and wish us all back through the portal."

Timmy raced down the street where Cosmo and Wanda were posing as props in the storefront window of a costume shop.

"Guys!" he practically leapt for joy when he spotted the pink and green tombstones. "You're okay!"

"Timmy!!" the godparents cheered and poofed back to their original forms.

"Oh Timmy, it was terrible," Cosmo explained, "you were all mean and scary and then you made all these really spooky wishes so we hid so you couldn't misuse our magic anymore and-"

"It's okay Cosmo, I'm me again." Timmy assured him, "Now we've gotta stop those other guys before they wreck Halloween and Jack totally kills me!"

"Don't worry hon," Wanda waved it off, "the spirit of Halloween may be one scary guy, but I don't think he'd ever actually hurt anybody."

"Just psychologically," Cosmo beamed.

"Too bad they can't say the same for us."

The trio jumped and spun around to find the nega-genies staring them down.

Nega-Des formed a ball of crackling green fire in her hand and hurled it into their midst.

"AAAHHH!!!" they screamed and dove in various directions as the flaming orb hit the ground and exploded in burst of neon fire.

"Sttttrike!" the witchy fiend cackled.

A shadow fell over Timmy as he struggled to push himself up. "Huh?"

Looking up he locked eyes with a sneering dark haired sorceress.

"It's a real shame it had to come to this Timmy but-" she smirked and raised her hate canon, fixing his terrified expression between the crosshairs, "-if you're not with us..."

Timmy turned to his godparents for help only to find they'd been ensnared by the nega-genies. The misty green and wolfish tails were wound around them so tight that neither could speak let along raise their wand.

With no help in sight he could only turn back and watch as Nega-Trudy blasted him head on. But, to everyone's surprise, she was reluctant to pull the trigger.

_I-I don't get it_, the nega-creature frowned at her strange hesitation. _What's going on?_

"Hey, hey, what's this?" Nega-Norm growled, "Do the little pork chop in already!"

"Yeah!" Nega-Des called, "We're wasting precious bewitching hours here!"

Their master trembled and lifted her finger from the trigger. "I-I can't," her crimson eyes softened, "Timmy..."

The nega-genies exchanged puzzled looks when she lowered her weapon.

"Ooohh..." a hand flew to her forehead, "What's happening? I feel...so...weird."

As she dropped to her knees a figure crept up from behind and grasped her shoulder. "Maybe I can help ya clear your head there?"

The others gasped when the tattered gloved hand pulled away with what--at first--appeared to be her shadow. A small hiss escaped her as the nega-creature was pulled free and stuffed into the treat bag in his opposite hand.

Timmy's eyes lit up with recognition. "Hey! You're that lady from the play! And the movie theater!"

Trudy glanced behind her, "Who-?"

"Jack Oleander," the spirit of Halloween bowed slightly and removed his worn straw hat. "Now if you'll excuse me," he went straight for the nega-genies who cowered in place, literally paralyzed with fear, "I've got a few more negas to round up."

The imps gasped when Jack muttered a quick, "Here, hold this." and shoved the treat bag at Hocus on his way past.

With one good yank the negas were pulled from Norm and Des who groaned and unwound their tails. Free at last the fairies floated upward and stretched the kinks out of their spines. "Yay!!"

Jack returned to Hocus and stuffed the nega-creatures into the bag. "This won't hold them for long. I'd better get 'em back in the coffin."

"Weeee, we won!" Cosmo cheered, flying circles around the panicking pre-teen. "Pffft! Ack, I've still got fur in my mouth!"

Wanda shook her head while her hubby poofed up a lint brush and tried to clean his tongue. A sudden tug on her shoe brought her attention back to Timmy.

"Um, Wanda? Maaaybe we oughtta get outta here? Ya know, just incase you-know-who's still mad about the coffin thing?"

"Sure thing Sport."

_POOF!_

_HASTY RETREAT!_

Truthfully, Jack hadn't been paying much attention to the kid or his fairies. He was preoccupied with getting the negas back into the coffin...and reprimanding a few thoughtless imps.

"Wait!" Trudy called after him, "What about saving Halloween?"

"What about it?" Jack glanced over his shoulder. "Looks to me like 'Funeduween' (or whatever those clowns called it) is history now. And hey, the night's still young. So get out there and--ya know--spook it up huh?"

Giving a quick wink he spread his arms and disappeared (imps and all) back to the castle in his classic, eerie fashion.

"Well," Norm grumbled, "that was a howl."

"Why do I feel like making poison apples?" Des blinked.

The agent of love got shakily to her feet just as Chartre appeared holding a rose.

"Here you go sweetie," the sprite smiled sweetly, now back to her old self. "It's no jawbreaker but I figure this will do the trick."

"Thanks Aunt Char," Trudy gratefully accepted the rose.

"Hey wait, I remember Nega-Des attacking you," the genie godmother eyed her suspiciously, "How'd you change back?"

_LOVE POOF!_

Cupid slung an arm around the sprite's shoulders and pulled her close. "Heh, a little love magic goes a long way, right Flower Girl?"

She grinned and blushed while he wriggled his eyebrows, so cheesy. "Right Lover Boy."

"Oooh," Norm clutched his stomach, looking green in the face, "anybody got a goody bag? I think I'm gonna be sick."

* * *

A short time later, after the miserable failure of 'Funeduween', Dimmsdale was ready to once again embrace Halloween...which didn't seem nearly as dangerous or destructive as the alternative. Kids flooded the streets in their costumes and rushed door-to-door chanting "trick-or-treat!"

Back outside Tootie's house her genie godparents waited for their godchild to emerge. Even Norm found it mildly amusing to watch the other children run by them carting bags of candy twice their size while laughing away.

Vicky had already left to take Timmy and his friends trick-or-treating. The evil babysitter was particularly happy now that she was getting double her fee for coming out on such late notice. Her little sister managed to escape the greedy redhead's candy run by convincing her parents she'd been invited to go along with her friends from school. A group that would be supervised by a certain pair of 'responsible volunteers'.

"Great," Norm groaned, watching the seconds tick away on his wrist watch.

"Oh what're you so sour about?" Des asked. _Does he have to complain about **everything **we do?_

"Oh nothing, I mean, what genie wouldn't be _thrilled_ to walk around all night with a kid dressed as a FAIRY princess?"

Des frowned, she could actually sympathize there. "I know it's humiliating but it's Tootie's decision. And besides, it's only one night a year."

"One looong night." he griped.

The front door shut as their godchild came out ready and raring to go. "Okay guys, I'm ready! What do you think?"

Her godparents turned around fearing the worst, but instead, big smiles spread over their faces. Tootie was wearing genie garb instead of her embarrassing, frilly fairy princess costume.

"What's this?" Norm teased, "I thought you were going as a poofy FAIRY princess?"

"Well..." Tootie blushed, "they're not the ONLY kind of princesses around."

"That's my girl," he nudged her chin playfully.

"Oh you're such a cutie pie!" Des gushed.

A gong sounded followed by a series of flashes as Des started snapping pictures like crazy.

"Whoa Des!" Norm covered the opening around his shades. "Easy on the snapshots! You're gonna blind the kid!"

"Say 'cavities'!" she beamed, unable to resist getting one last photo for the scrapbook.

* * *

Outside the Turners' residence an angry redhead stood tapping her foot impatiently while the other trick-or-treaters in her group kept a safe distance.

"What is taking so long?!" she demanded, mashing the doorbell for the tenth time in the past two minutes.

The door slowly creaked open as Vicky turned to head back down the walkway. Two blue eyes shown through the darkness inside. With a buck toothed grin the mysterious watcher sprang out onto the stoop behind the unsuspecting babysitter, "FaIrY gOdPaReNtS!!!"

"AAAHHH!!!" Vicky must've leapt ten feet in the air causing the kids to break out into laughter.

"Cool costume Timmy," AJ praised, "No one's ever thought of going as Mr. Crocker before."

"Yeah," Chester agreed, "you've even got that 'thing' on your neck."

"Well, I wanted something unique and scary," Timmy replied proudly as he and his friends headed off down the street, "And what's scarier than a fairy obsessed, F-giving teacher?"

They passed a yard with a fall scene out front, included was a pumpkin-headed scarecrow leaning on the bails of hay.

"Heh, now that's usin' your imagination."

The kids paused.

"D-Did that scarecrow just say something?" Chester asked nervously.

"D-Don't be ridiculous," AJ stammered, "Scarecrows can't talk. It...it's a scientific fact."

Timmy's eyes widened from behind his black rimmed glasses. "Jack Oleander?"

The scarecrow bent over toward them and removed his head; the kids trembled as he held it toward them. "Call me...**JACK**, the spirit of **HALLOWEEN**! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

"YAH!!" the boys screamed and took off in opposite directions, all but Timmy who stepped back and asked shakily, "Y-You're not mad about the nega-thing are you? It--it was an accident! And uh--it--it won't happen again! Yeah!"

"Relax kid," Jack replaced his head and waved the matter off, "everything's fine now. The negas are back inside the coffin, the portal's sealed off, and no one got hurt."

"Phew," Timmy wiped his sweaty brow. It looked like he was off the hook.

"Although..." Jack propped his pumpkin head on his hand and tilted it thoughtfully, "...you did go poking around where I specifically told ya not to."

Timmy gulped.

* * *

Cosmo and Wanda watched Sanjay run past them screaming like a frightened little girl. "DEMON SCARECROW!!"

"Gee, I wonder what that was about?"

Wanda looked worried, "You don't think Jack is still mad at Timmy do you?"

"Nah, don't worry baby." Cosmo assured her in his typically overconfident manner. "Look! Here he comes! Hey Timmy, over here!"

Their godchild came over looking peeved and dragging his empty bag behind him.

"Aw, what's the matter Sport?" Wanda asked. "You got out of having to spend Halloween at the Learn-A-Torium didn't you?"

"Yeah, but thanks to Cosmo prying open that coffin I have to spend the next WEEK stuck in this Crocker costume!" he shot his godfather a glare and got a nervous laugh in response.

"Ah well, he's tough but fair."

"And one more thing," Timmy smirked and pointed at the fairy, "you have to spend the next week stuck--as your mother!"

Instantly Cosmo was poofed into the Mama Cosma costume. Wanda quivered and bit her nails; it was obviously a punishment for her too.

"Wanda? What? You still love me right baby? Right?!" he leaned forward to kiss her but she screamed in terror and took off.

Timmy watched the chase ensue with a smug grin. "Yep, tough but fair." A look of confusion suddenly crossed his features. "Huh? Why do I feel like I forgot something?"

* * *

_Back at the Learn-A-Torium..._

A giant tarantula sat in the ball pit wearing safety gear and looking fairly distressed. His captors rushed up with a fresh tray of soy cubes.

"Well scary special guest," Gary smiled cheerily at the oversized arachnid, "since you're the only one left in the whole building, it looks like it'll just be the three of us celebrating Funeduween this year!"

Betty shoved a soy cube in the terrified spider's mouth. "Say, why don't you come back in February so you can help us celebrate Let's Just Be Friends Day?!"

Outside Jack leaned against the broken window frame, noticed the readers, and pointed at the scene. "Well gang, it doesn't get much scarier than that. Hn, so hey, **_Happy Halloween!_**"

* * *

_**The End**_


End file.
